Social commerce
Social commerce is buying and selling products directly inside social platforms and social-style content, rather than using social media only to drive traffic elsewhere. It covers in-app shops, shoppable posts, creator and influencer selling, and shoppable video, where product discovery and the buying step happen in the same flow.
Social commerce is buying and selling products directly inside social platforms and social-style content, rather than using social media only to drive traffic elsewhere. It covers in-app shops, shoppable posts, creator and influencer selling, and shoppable video, where product discovery and the buying step happen in the same flow.
Traditional online shopping keeps discovery and purchase in separate places: a shopper finds a product on Instagram or YouTube, then leaves to search and buy on a store. Social commerce removes that detour by letting the buying step sit right next to the content that sparked the interest.
It grew because people already spend their attention on feeds, reels, and creator videos, and they trust a person showing a product more than a banner ad. Brands followed the attention, first onto the platforms themselves and then by bringing that same shoppable, content-led experience onto their own stores.
Social commerce is a broad category, not a single feature. In-app marketplaces, shoppable links, live selling, creator storefronts, and shoppable video all sit under it. What they share is one idea: the content is the storefront, and the shopper can act on it without breaking the moment.
On beyondRegular
Most Indian D2C brands already do the discovery half of social commerce on Instagram and WhatsApp, then lose the shopper at the handoff to their store. beyondRegular closes that gap on your own site: import the reels you already posted, tag the products, and embed them as shoppable video so the content-led, social-style buying happens on a page you own, with checkout through your existing gateway and prices in INR from your catalogue.
Common questions
Is social commerce the same as e-commerce?
No. E-commerce is the broad term for selling online through any store or marketplace. Social commerce is a subset where discovery and purchase happen inside social platforms or social-style content, like shoppable posts, creator selling, and shoppable video. All social commerce is e-commerce, but most e-commerce is not social commerce.
Do I have to sell on Instagram or TikTok to do social commerce?
No. Selling inside those apps is one route, but you can also bring the social experience onto your own store. Embedding shoppable video and creator clips on your product pages gives shoppers the same content-led, tap-to-buy flow while keeping the customer, the data, and the margin on a site you control.
Related resources
Social shopping
Social shopping is buying products in a social, video-led way: discovering items through reels, creator clips, and customer videos, then purchasing with a tap. It brings the feel of scrolling a feed onto a brand's own store, so the same content that earns attention also closes the sale.
Shoppable video
Shoppable video is a product video with tappable hotspots that let a shopper see a price and add the item to cart without leaving the clip. It turns a passive watch into a buying step, usually as an embedded widget on a product page, homepage, or landing page.